Boardmember XY

Despite the conspicuous archaeological evidence coming from the recent MBA excavations in North Mesopotamia and Syria, detailed publications about morphological ceramic characteristics and related economic activities (storage, processing, consumption and transportation) are still scarce and when available only refer to local identities. The general aim of this research is to Read more…

The study shall focus on the socio-political relationships between Hatti and her Anatolian and Syrian subjects as well as between Egypt and her Palestinian subjects during the El Amarna period. Practices of kinship, pseudo-kinship, friendship, patronage and statehood, involving prestige and power, shall be analysed from a historical-anthropological perspective. Completed: Read more…

This dissertation will comprise a systematic study of the royal family of the Ur III Dynasty. The first part of the study will identify membership in the family, by both blood and marriage, interrelationships among members, and the various roles or functions attributed to members in the extant records. This Read more…

It is the aim to combine the results of the excavations of the 19th and 20th centuries in the Ekur-Temple of Nippur. Unpublished materials as plans, sketches, photos etc. will be added to and combined with the published material. The stratigraphy of the Ekur-Temple as a whole will be revised Read more…

This study aims to give new insight in the Kassite settlement of the ancient city of Babylon. Main sources besides the previous publications of the German excavation team (1899-1917) are the original documentation material and the recovered small finds. The focus lies on the Merkes area with its rich dwelling Read more…

The core research question of this thesis is to what extent is the professional, purity-based hierarchy of the Neo-Babylonian priesthood reflected in the priests’ social interaction outside of the institutional context of the temple. Using archives of priestly families from Borsippa this study aims at establishing the identity of the Read more…

My doctorate concerns the Sumerian administrative documents of the Ur III period of Ancient Mesopotamia, particularly those from Tell Drehem. I hope to investigate the relationships between the Ur III administration and those regions on, or beyond, its ‘borders’. This relationship has been viewed as relatively static over time, and Read more…

This project seeks to investigate significant literary, historical and religious issues in this poem, including the diachronic nature of the cult of Erra/Nergal, his relationship to his vizier Ishum, the personality of the Seven/Sebetti, the status of Marduk (especially with regard to the problem of evil), representation of the divine, Read more…

This study investigates Martin Noth’s conclusion about the Deuteronomistic History (DH) that the people of Israel had committed apostasy, ceased to obey the law code of YHWH, and thus lost their land. Scholars have challenged Noth’s hypothesis and even the existence of such a history. The present study adopts a Read more…